Mullane wants Déise aces to go all the way now

WINNING at Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday against the odds has earned De La Salle the right to be taken much more seriously going into the AIB Munster club hurling final against Adare in two weeks time, captain John Mullane insists.

Stating that they have proved themselves in spite of being “written off all year and not given a chance coming down to Cork,” he added: “If Ballygunner or Mount Sion were going up for the final, they’d be going up to win.”

Describing last Sunday’s county championship breakthrough as one of the happiest days of his life, Mullane paid tribute to the contribution of manager Owen Dunphy. “He came in for an awful lot of criticism last year after we got beaten by Lismore in the quarter-final, but he has answered all the questions this year.

“I’m 27 and I’m waiting all my life for this. It’s finally happened.”

Dunphy paid tribute to his players, saying that it hadn’t been difficult to prepare after winning their first Waterford title a week ago. Praising them for being ‘self-motivated,’ he commented: “We did put our celebrations on hold. In saying that we enjoyed ourselves last Sunday and Monday, but we were back training on Tuesday night.

“There’s a lot of belief in this team. These fellows are after winning three tough games in Waterford and they answered the questions out there. All the talk was about Sarsfields — there was no talk about what happened the Sunday before. It was a fantastic achievement to win our first Munster club game down in Cork.”

Team trainer Mick Casey (Jason Ryan’s assistant with the Wexford footballers) believed they benefited from playing on a good surface.

“I was delighted to see the quality of the sod. The underfoot conditions for the last three games were terrible so the standard was bad. I think anybody watching the games might have got a false reading from them,” he commented.

However, on this particular point, Sarsfields manager Bertie Óg Murphy said there was no question of underestimating the opposition, saying that their defeat had more to do with the fact that they didn’t play up to standard.

Agreeing that there was “no comparison” with the standard of their display against Clare side Clonlara in the quarter-final, Murphy said: “We played in Waterford several times this year and we got very hard games from teams that wouldn’t be as good as De La Salle. We knew we were up against it.

“Brian Phelan in particular I thought had an exceptional game. He was exceptional in the county final and he brought that form with him into the game. He got crucial scores.

“I have to say that the best team won on the day. They played with that little bit more intensity and they threatened a goal a few times which we never did. It was tough on our lads at the end, but we have come a long way this year. We’re extremely disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we did in recent games. One or two players were just off the boil , but these things happen.”

Meanwhile, the DLS manager takes no notice of Adare’s lack of experience at this level, saying: “They have to be a good side to beat Toomevara. They will have to be respected.”